Liveaboard payment

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puncho

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Location
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Hi, I'm about to reserve a liveaboard trip to raja ampat in Indonesia. The agent would like me to do a bank transfer (wire?) to his account in the uk. I haven't done much wiring in the past, but it seems to be an unsafe method compared to using credit cards. I have seen some reviews which suggest the agent is legit.

What have you guys done in the past to wire the money? Bank charges $40 and it seems PayPal is cheaper but the agent really did not want me to use PayPal because he has to convert it from usd to gbp.
 
Have you considered another agent? Reef and Rainforest in California takes credit cards as do many other dive travel agents. The agency may be fine but I wouldn't risk it unless I had to.
 
Hi puncho;
I've been on 4 live-aboards over the last 4 years.
Three times I had to wire transfer - so to me that now seems pretty normal!
Once I was given the option of PayPal but had to cover a 3% handling fee or so.

From a safety point of view, my impression is that wiring money would be much safer than providing your CC?
 
Well he just set up cc acceptance but it adds an additional 4% to the cost.

---------- Post added December 16th, 2012 at 05:09 PM ----------

Thanks, it's good to know it's not out of the norm. Paying by cc would be best since you have protection.
 
Who is the agent? If he is a UK based agent and is a member of ABTA you are safe since your money is gauranteed.
 
Jez from liveaboarddiving.net
 
I've done many liveaboards and always insist that I deal directly with the boat operator. I've met some resistance, but in the end they always work it out rather than letting me walk away. There are too many horror stories of customers arriving to board and the boat not having any record of their payment. This was a major problem in the Maldives, but appears to have lessened in the past couple of years.

Wiring $$ is fine and $40 is a bit high for a service fee, but you may not have a choice when dealing with your bank. I always pay by CC and will pay the additional 3% if forced to do so. Consider it cheap insurance, But you have a limited time to dispute the charge if things go wrong, usually 60 days. Also most travel insurance doesn't cover the disappearance of the $$ through an intermediary.

Before payment, I'd verify that the broker is authorized by the boat with the boat operator.
 
I am contributing here as a broker for liveaboard bookings all over SE Asia.

My company is Thailand-registered, and when I book a Thailand liveaboard for my clients, I can take credit cards, but when I book a trip in another country, I have to ask for wire transfers. Furthermore, I have to send wire transfers to boat operators in those countries.

Why? In the vast majority of cases, boat operators do not have credit card facilities, and the ones that do accept credit cards often have off-site payment locations not related to the area where their boats sail--that is, a boat may sail in Indonesia (or Thailand or Maldives or the Philippines) and yet require payment--regardless of whether by credit card or wire transfer--to the UK, Hong Kong, the US or elsewhere. It's very common among operators that accept credit card payments.

You may also wonder why I can take credit cards for Thailand and not for other countries--my credit card facility only accepts Thai baht payment, so there are all kinds of issues related to that, ranging from multiple currency exchanges and commissions on them to invoicing and receipts for audits, etc. I just can't take credit cards for non-Thailand bookings.

Finally, in Indonesia the banking laws changed a few years ago and only allow hotels to accept credit cards that are not presented on the spot, with the card inserted into the actual land-based machine. This means that any operator or agent that has an Indonesia-based payment location can only take wire transfers or Western Union or Pay Pal or the like. There is no actual bank-to-bank option other than a wire transfer.

In sum:
1) It's usual for liveaboard operators and agents based in SE Asia to request wire transfers.
2) When sending money to a third country, you will most often have to do a TT (wire) transfer unless the operator has a branch of its business registered in that country and can get a credit card merchant number there. Such liveaboard businesses are the exception rather than the rule, and they are almost always the priciest ones.
3) It doesn't matter if you're working directly with the operator or an agent in regard to payment options; what matters is where the business is registered. Different countries have different banking and credit card regulations.
4) Agents based in countries like the UK and the US have a very limited view of liveaboard operators/boats and typically don't recommend some very good options simply out of ignorance--they aren't here and they don't know the lay of the land like regionally-based agents do.
 
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